Chingford and Woodford Green

Boundary changes: Technically Chingford and Woodford Green loses a small part of Higham Hill ward to Walthamstow, however there are no electors in the area transferred, so for purposes of notional results the seat is unchanged.

Profile: a north-east London seat straddling the boundary between Waltham Forest and Redbridge. It is represented by former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, but perhaps more associated with his predecessor for the Chingford portion of the seat, Norman Tebbit.

This is white, owner-occupied Tory suburbia on the edge of Epping Forest and alongside the Chingford reservoirs in the Lee Valley. The majority of the seat is made up of Chingford; Woodford is split between Leyton and Wanstead, Ilford North and this seat, with the part west of the Central Line coming under Chingford and Woodford Green.

Current MP: Iain Duncan Smith(Conservative) born 1954, Edinburgh, son of WWII flying ace WGG “Smithy” Duncan Smith. Educated at HMS Conway and Sandhurst. A former captain in the Scots Guards serving in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia, as ADC to Major-General Sir John Acland. Between leaving the forces and his election he worked for GEC Marconi. Contested Bradford West 1987. First elected as MP for Chingford 1992. A euro-sceptic rightwinger he rebelled against the party whip over Maastricht in the 1992-97 Parliament, earning the emnity of some party loyalists that would come back to haunt him when he later became leader. Following the Conservative party`s defeat in 1997 he became shadow secretary of state for social security 1997-1999 and shadow defence secretary 1999-2001. Following the 2001 election he entered the leadership race as an outsider in a race that was expected to be between Michael Portillo and Ken Clarke. Following Portillo`s surprise defeat in the penultimate round, the rank and file party membership were left to chose between Duncan Smith and Clarke, with Duncan Smith emerging as the winner. He became leader two days after 9-11 and was strongly supportive of military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. He faced considerable dissent as leader of the Conservative party (2001-2003), climaxing in allegations (eventually found to be baseless) that he was inproperly paying his wife Betsy out of his Parliamentary allowance. Before the allegations could be ruled upon a vote of no confidence was triggered by Conservative MPs which Duncan Smith would go on to lose. After ceasing to be leader Duncan Smith remained on the backbenches and headed the Centre for Social Justice, a right-wing think tank. He also chaired the Social Justice Policy Group as part of David Cameron`s policy review, bringing forward policies on family breakdown and social cohesion. Upon the Conservative return to government in 2010 he became Secretary of state for Work and Pensions – along with William Hague he was the first former party leader to accept ministerial office since Alec Douglas-Home (more information at They work for you)

2010 election candidates:
Iain Duncan Smith(Conservative) born 1954, Edinburgh, son of WWII flying ace WGG “Smithy” Duncan Smith. Educated at HMS Conway and Sandhurst. A former captain in the Scots Guards serving in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia, as ADC to Major-General Sir John Acland. Between leaving the forces and his election he worked for GEC Marconi. Contested Bradford West 1987. First elected as MP for Chingford 1992. A euro-sceptic rightwinger he rebelled against the party whip over Maastricht in the 1992-97 Parliament, earning the emnity of some party loyalists that would come back to haunt him when he later became leader. Following the Conservative party`s defeat in 1997 he became shadow secretary of state for social security 1997-1999 and shadow defence secretary 1999-2001. Following the 2001 election he entered the leadership race as an outsider in a race that was expected to be between Michael Portillo and Ken Clarke. Following Portillo`s surprise defeat in the penultimate round, the rank and file party membership were left to chose between Duncan Smith and Clarke, with Duncan Smith emerging as the winner. He became leader two days after 9-11 and was strongly supportive of military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. He faced considerable dissent as leader of the Conservative party (2001-2003), climaxing in allegations (eventually found to be baseless) that he was inproperly paying his wife Betsy out of his Parliamentary allowance. Before the allegations could be ruled upon a vote of no confidence was triggered by Conservative MPs which Duncan Smith would go on to lose. Since ceasing to be leader Duncan Smith has remained on the backbenches and headed the Centre for Social Justice, a right-wing think tank. He has also chaired the Social Justice Policy Group as part of David Cameron`s policy review, bring forward policies on family breakdown and social cohesion (more information at They work for you)
Catharine Arakelian (Labour) Educated at Oxford University. Communication skills trainer.
Geoff Seeff (Liberal Democrat) born 1947. Educated at Beal Grammar School and Birmingham University. Management consultant. Contested Chingford and Woodford Green 1997, Redbridge and Havering in 2000 GLA elections, Romford 2005.
Lucy Craig (Green)
Nick Jones (UKIP)
Julian Leppert (BNP)
None Of The Above (Independent) Original name Adam Osen. Painter and decorator.
Barry White (Independent)

203 Responses to “Chingford and Woodford Green”

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1. LBernard

   There is still a good Tory base in Church End and Redbridge councillors are really getting to grips with the problems tackling Ilford and the wards in the south of the borough.

   I would think that Roding ward is a better Tory prospect as well as tring to get a seat back in Clayhall and Aldborough.

   January 9th, 2012 at 11:02 am
2. Joe James B

   Church End
   may see itself as a separate community?

   Richard, the Alliance gains in 1987 didn’t seem to come from the Conservatives – although there would be churn.
   They were partly from Labour
   but there was also a big fall in the number of Indepdent councillors that year – although there may again have been churn between net figures for Con, LD and Ind in particular.

   Labour had actually done fairly well (for the time) in the May 1983 elections
   - so there was some delayed losses for May 1987
   but unlike 1983, they did then recover a bit in the campaign.

   January 9th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
3. Joe James B

   I noticed that some of the places Labour fell apart in June 1983
   still had a reasonable Labour showing in May 1983.
   For example, in Hemel Hempstead
   and Castle Point (where Labour actually won no seats in 1979, but did in 1983).

   But in 1987 the losses caught up with them, although as I said, they did then recover a bit in the General Election.

   January 9th, 2012 at 12:57 pm

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